


Loyalties

by Danudane



Category: The Order: 1886
Genre: Backstory, Gen, Headcanon, Knights - Freeform, Lycans, The Order 1886 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-31
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-20 15:38:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3655713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Danudane/pseuds/Danudane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young Alastair deals with divided loyalties as best he can.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loyalties

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers, if you haven't beaten the game.  
> Just a little thing I wrote up for a friend on tumblr. // A headcanon on pre-game Alastair and how he might have dealt with certain...circumstances.

There were nights in which Alastair would drag himself back to the palace in scraps of clothing. He was lucky enough, usually, to avoid the other knights and- no doubt- a myriad of questions and concerns.  
The guards who kept watch had often nodded off by the time he would sneak in. It was always harder to explain the numerous scratches and bloody wounds at this hour of the night. 

As sore as he would be, he had not yet become a knight and without life threatening wounds the Blackwater was off limits to him. It simply meant he would have to heal naturally.  
Back in his own quarters, Alastair finally dropped his guard. He found the lantern where he’d left it, on a small table just inside the door. He lit it, and found himself strangely comforted by the warm glow. 

Bringing the lantern with him, he approached the basin of water in the wash room and assessed the damage to his body.  
Several small cuts were scattered across the lower half of his face. Many of them still welled with blood, and stung as he wiped them clean.  
As he pressed the damp cloth to his face he recalled the fight in which he’d received these wounds.

-  
Alastair had already felt his human form giving way to the wolf within him, patches of dark skin blooming across much of his face. His coarse hair bristled as his bones and tendons prepared themselves for the change.  
He let out an inhuman snarl and challenged the other lycan, holding back only long enough to get a few more words out. 

“You’ve gone too far this time.” A rumble followed, from deep within his chest. He was younger and lower ranking, but he had strength and a much more level head on his shoulders. 

“Nonsense. The humans were pathetic. They did not even defend themselves. Scampered away like scared little rabbits. It is good. They should fear us.” The older lycan showed the same signs of transformation, but held back as well. 

“Such blatant attacks will have knights sent after us. Do you want to start a war?” Alastair did not stop the change this time as his fingers elongated and the tips grew into razor sharp claws.  
He pulled his coat off- plain and black- a change from his normal uniform that would not give away his allegiance to the Order. 

“We are already at war.” The other lycan cared not for his clothes, and simply let the transformation take over. The cloth ripped at the seams and fell off him in shreds as he charged at Alastair.

The knight in training feinted to the right, dodging the older lycan’s attack by mere inches. He slashed at the other lycan, leaving fairly deep gashes along his flank. Still, it would take much more than that to bring his opponent down. 

The fight went on for the better part of half an hour. They fought like dogs bred for the pit, losing themselves to bloodlust as their most basic instinct kicked in. Kill or be killed. 

They bit and scratched, snapping at each other. Fangs and claws alike sunk into flesh, the coppery taste of blood filling both of their mouths as they struggled against the other. 

Eventually their injuries caught up to them, though Alastair’s youth had given him the upper hand.  
Still, the both of them stood wavering on clawed feet, their chests heaving as they snarled out the last warnings. 

Once more the older lycan charged, with Alastair expecting such impatience. He caught the other mid lunge, and used his own momentum to carry him head first into the nearest wall.  
Stunned, the older lycan was delayed just long enough to give the younger an opening.

Alastair did not hesitate more than a moment, his fangs burying deep into the older lycan’s neck before jerking back.  
The tough hide eventually gave way, tendons and veins torn open and away. 

The older lycan gasped and hacked a wet cough as blood poured from the gaping wound in his neck. It was only seconds before he collapsed to the ground, clawing at the fatal wound for a few moments before succumbing to the irreparable damage.  
-

Alastair sighed as he leaned over the water basin, his thoughts finally returned to the present.  
The lantern flickered beside him, illuminating only his clenched fists and the water newly colored pink with diluted blood. 

He was loyal to his own kind, but could not tolerate such violence on humans. If only for the reason that it would- in the end- bring more harm to their own kind than good.  
His shoulders slumped, as he lowered his head into his hands. It was a very fine line he walked, between knight in training and lycan. No one else could know, he had vowed this from the very beginning. No one else would understand.  
Alastair’s thoughts strayed to his sister. Isabeau would never accept him as a lycan. Her loyalty to the Order surpassed even his own. It was a sense of purpose that she had clung to so tightly, he could not imagine her ever letting go.  
He would have to use that to his advantage, somehow, if he was to keep his secret safe.

With a final check of his face in the mirror, he bandaged some of the more pressing wounds on his sides, arms, and legs.  
Any questions as to where they came from would get a truthful answer, insofar as he had fought with a lycan.  
Other details could be improvised easily enough. He had become quite good at lying, after all. 

Still, those were worries for later, Alastair decided, as he lowered himself slowly down onto his bed.  
Yawning, he laid back and closed his eyes, his exhaustion finally taking over.  
A final sigh, more animal like than human, escaped Alastair as he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.


End file.
